The one light portrait setup for monolights and speedlights is classic, simple, and effective. My lighting gear consisted of a single 500 w/s monolight and a large 5′ x 8′ foot Ripstop Nylon Diffusion Panel. For the subject background I used a 8′ x 10′ foot black fabric. No retouching for anything, just processed the RAW file in CaptureOne Pro using basic levels and white balance adjustments.
Classic One Light Portraiture with Monohead and Ripstop Nylon Diffusion Panel
The image above, is one of my first jobs in St. Louis after relocating from Seattle. The Clayton School District needed to update the images of the ViBravo String Ensemble sectional coaches for their new website. For this shoot, I decided to use a dark background to compliment the formal concert wardrobe. Scheduling all four sectional coaches to be available the same day added to the pressure 
I had a little more than one hour to setup, shoot 4 people, and pack before the room would be used for another rehearsal. To top it off, the final images had to be ready the next day for the web designer as the ViBravo String Ensemble would begin touring in Chicago two days later.
Using the panels now for 20 years, I am still pleasantly surprised each time of how good the light quality looks. I did a quick lightmeter reading on the subject and background…shot an image…and I was ready to go. My initial concern was that I might have a large glaring white reflection on the viola from the diffusion panel, fortunately this did not occur, just a nice and clean highlight on the edges of the viola. The RAW file has plenty of room in the shadow and highlight details…just perfect dynamic range Continue reading
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